Impromptu Peach Pancake Brunch

The entire week of vacation I spent at home was hot and sunny, that is until a big group of us had plans to spend the day at the pool all day Saturday. That morning I woke up and it was drizzly and overcast (of course). Instead of letting the rain ruin our plans, we hit the farmer's market for a big bag of ripe white peaches and sliced them up for pancakes. I used this recipe with a few adaptations. Instead of making ginger syrup, pancakes were served with real maple syrup (my favorite!) and the amount of milk was reduced to only two cups. The end result was crispy on the outside, but fluffy on the inside pancakes, with lots of peaches and of course laughs with friends. 

Mixing all of the ingredients together.

Table set with brightly colored napkins and gerber daisies.

Pancakes on the griddle.

Camera fun with glassware.

Hot pancakes ready to be smothered in syrup.

The perfect brunch!

Thanks to David for snapping lots of great photos!

Annual Crab Feast + More Photos From Home

One of the greatest 'final hurrahs' of summer vacation last August was a crab feast with friends and family. This year, we decided to do it again, and so a new tradition has officially been born! I have really started to appreciate the Chesapeake Bay crabs because we can't get them up here in New England. The menu was kept pretty simple: steamed crabs, bruschetta, and a new crostini recipe I wanted to try with burrata, thinly sliced fresh figs, a drizzle of honey, and a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts. I can't wait to experiment with more crostini toppings. They're as fun to make as they are to eat!

Steamed crabs hot and fresh from the waterfront. 

Giving Emily's chocolate chip cookie recipe a whirl for dessert.

Toasted and chopped hazelnuts that topped crostini.

Fresh figs that were sliced and put on top of creamy burrata + drizzled with local honey.

Baguette ready for slicing.

Crostini in the making.

Jackson tried crabs, but really loved the watermelon.

"It's SO juicy!"

Mom prepping flowers for the table.

Wooden utensils from Sprinkles in Georgetown.

Sticky s'mores cupcake.

Cinnamon-sugar cupcake (my favorite!).

Life Lately...

There's been some serious downtime around here since returning from San Diego. Between the time change and getting back into the work routine, my weekends have been reserved for leisurely brunches, walks in the fresh springtime air, and catching up on my favorite blogs. I've also been trying to tackle some of the recipes that I've been pinning for months. Among my new favorites: Pioneer Woman's cold brewed iced coffee (liquid gold, if you ask me), Taza's puffed pancake (which I've been justifying as breakfast during my 40 days of no sweets + alcohol), and the best homemade salsa ever. Seriously, I am not exaggerating when I tell you this salsa comes together in under 5 minutes and will make your taste buds incredibly happy (and leave you craving a frosty margarita). Make all three recipes and tell me they're not amazing.

How have you been enjoying these springlike temps?


puffed pancake right out of the oven


...and with a drizzle of real maple syrup


home-brewed iced coffee (in its sludgy mid-brew state)


fun, springy polishes


my favorite orangey-coral hue by Chanel

Pinterest Pizza

Made yet another recipe off of Pinterest tonight. This time, it was bbq chicken pizza and it was delicious. I learned a great tip for shredding chicken breasts, too! All you have to do is put the warm cooked chicken into your KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and turn it on the medium speed (I did setting 4) and let it go for 30 seconds. Voila! Perfectly shredded restaurant-style chicken. I'm never using the two forks method again!

Deck the Halls

My first new ornament of the season!

Brunchin'

Homemade baked spinach + egg cups. Nom nom nom.

Effortless Seafood Supper

These shrimp tacos are my new go-to dinner. They're so easy that I didn't even follow a recipe! I simply seasoned up some diced raw shrimp with Old Bay, garlic, and cumin, sauteed them in olive oil and a pureed chipotle, and piled the mixture in a blistered tortilla. If you want to get fancy, mix some of the pureed chipotles with sour cream and use that as a dressing for broccoli slaw, which makes a great crunchy filler. The tacos are topped with lots of fresh cilantro, scallions, and a squeeze of lime juice. So easy and less than 15 minutes from start to finish. I promise!

Sesame Soy Goodness

I'm currently just a little bit obsessed with this sauce. It's great as a marinade for chicken, a dipping sauce for dumplings, or even to flavor a stir fry. What would I do without Trader Joe's?

Chewy Caramel Apples

Waiting for these freshly dipped apples to cool before giving them a drizzle of dark chocolate. I can't think of a better football-watching treat!
Super easy recipe found here.

Farmer's Heirlooms

I've recently fallen in love with heirloom tomatoes. I don't know if it's because they've been so readily available at the farmer's market all summer, or if their various colors make me happy, but I love having a few on hand. Recently, I've been slicing them up and having them with scrambled eggs and Ezekiel toast for breakfast. I discovered these miniature heirlooms over the weekend at Trader Joe's and have already incorporated them into an end-of-summer salad and breakfasts.

Skinny Pumpkin Goodness

I made these cookies using this recipe and you seriously can't even tell that they're low fat. I think the secret might be using good quality vanilla and dark chocolate chunks instead of chips. I can't wait to try more recipes from the site!

Fall Foodie Faves

I've been doing some fall recipe research in magazines and favorite cookbooks. The crisp weather puts me in the mood for chili, soups, chowder, and all things pumpkin. What types of recipes do you like to make in the fall?

Building a Summer Salad

yellow + red cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market

It's taken me all summer, but I think I finally found the perfect recipes for a salad filled with fresh, local ingredients and dressed with a simple avocado-cilantro vinaigrette. I used a combination of two salad recipes (here and here) and loaded it with ripe cherry tomatoes, buttery avocado, grilled corn, cucumber, scallions, and lime juice. The result was so full of flavor I had to stop myself from eating the whole bowl!

Caramelized Cloves

It's starting to feel like fall already, which is great because I love fall cooking (squash, soups, chili, stews, and so on). I kicked off some comfort food cooking tonight by roasting multiple heads of garlic. Some of it went into making this dip, and others will be spread on crostini or worked into pasta dishes. Bring on fall and especially pumpkin season!

Hurricane-d In

So I've been stuck inside for most of today, aside from a quick trip out for coffee this morning, and have been glued to Irene coverage (like everyone else on the east coast?). My cousin and I decided to try out this recipe for key lime pie, which I've been craving lately, complete with a homemade graham cracker crust. She squeezed almost an entire pound (54 halves to be exact) of golf-ball sized key limes-by choice, I offered to help-which only yielded one cup of lime juice. It was definitely a labor of love and made the final product that much more rewarding! The rest of the night is going to involve movies, popcorn, and magazines by candlelight if the power goes out! Good luck all you east coasters.

Sunny Side Up Brunch

It's fun having a weekend guest because we do things that we normally wouldn't do otherwise. Most Sundays are lazy and slow-paced, but this morning I was up bright and early to throw together some homemade pizza dough. By the time the rest of the house started stirring, it had time to rise and was ready to grill. Leslie helped me prep the scallions, shredded cheese, and basil that all went on top of our grilled breakfast pizza. This recipe was such a hit (and much easier than it looked), that I can't wait to make it again!

Weekend Snapshots: Overdue

Essie's California Coral--so bright and summery!


Best cracker ever. Seriously, good little dippers for hummus or guac.


Freshly grated nutmeg going into zucchini bread batter.


Early Saturday Pinkberry run. No line!


Used local RI summer ale...


...to make a tasty littleneck clam and mussel dinner!


M's chocolate birthday cake that I slaved hours over!


New favorite summer cocktail: vodka + sparkling blueberry juice.

Oops! I'm a little overdue with this photos, but they're from a couple weekends ago when M's birthday weekend continued. We did a lot of running around on Saturday and then stayed in to cook a local seafood feast, complete with clams and mussels in a spicy Narragansett summer ale and roasted tomato broth. It was insanely garlicky (and therefore insanely good!).

I felt like I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen because I ended up baking zucchini bread for a brunch on Sunday and then M's family came over for a birthday cookout in the afternoon where we served up grilled corn and sausage and peppers. Whew! It was definitely a packed summer weekend and I can't wait to keep the entertaining going next weekend when my cousin Leslie visits!

How are you spending this weekend?

Crafty Corner

This little nook in my kitchen is quickly becoming the home for all of my project supplies. I need to find some more space before it takes over the whole island!

The Mysterious Garlic Scape

Last weekend, I wandered around my local farmer's market, sipping an iced coffee and picking out loads of fresh produce, berries, and cheeses. One particular stand had what appeared to be thin, curlicued scallions, sold individually. When I asked about them, the nice lady behind the table informed me that they were garlic scapes. Hmm...I had never seen or heard of such a thing. As soon as I got home, I did a little research so that I would be more prepared next time. This article was the most helpful (and it didn't hurt that it comes from my old local paper!).

Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I marched back over to the same stand and purchased 8 garlic scapes to turn into garlic scape pesto. Not just any ol' pesto. The most flavorful and delicious garlic scape pesto ever. It's tangy and nutty and bursting with fresh onion-y garlic flavor and I can't wait to spread it on everything in sight. I used the simple recipe from the above article and you better believe I'll be buying more of those babies next weekend for round two. I want to make a big batch and freeze it because the season for scapes is so short (usually only through mid-July).

fresh garlic scapes straight from the farmer's market


taking a spin in the food processor with toasted walnuts and parmesan cheese


finished product slathered on hearty wheat toast with fresh cracked pepper

I strongly urge you to track down some garlic scapes and try this recipe. They're also supposed to be good sauteed in an omelette, stirred into scrambled eggs, or simply roasted in the oven. Let me know if you try them!

Healthy Treats

I've been working on perfecting a healthy recipe that also satisfies my sweet tooth. I started with this basic oatmeal cookie recipe, and after a couple of trial runs, have improved it with the addition of fresh blueberries and dark chocolate chips. The best part is that the cookies use whole wheat flour, applesauce, and a little bit of olive oil instead of butter or shortening. They taste great right out of the oven with a cold glass of milk!